OTS Calls for Foreclosure Moratorium

From the Washington Post:

The Office of Thrift Supervision today called for the mortgage lenders it regulates to halt foreclosures until the Obama administration puts in place a program to help struggling homeowners.

After presenting a plan to boost the financial sector yesterday, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said that a $50 billion initiative to help homeowners facing foreclosure is not expected for at least a week. The delay and the price tag -- it was the low end of expectations -- disappointed consumer advocates and lawmakers anticipating the announcement.

OTS is joining consumer advocates and some in Congress, including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who have called for lenders to institute a moratorium on foreclosures in the meantime. This adds to the pressure facing the administration as it finalizes details of the plan amid growing frustration about the ineffectiveness of government and industry efforts to stem foreclosures.

NDN has long argued that more must be done to keep people in their homes. We look forward to the Obama Administration's program to do just that, but, in the interim, the additional attention placed on staunching foreclosures and stabilizing the housing market is incredibly important. For more of NDN's thinking about the need to keep people in their homes, please see:

• In support of The USA Mortgage: Why Gary Becker is Wrong by Michael Moynihan, 2/10/2009

• The USA Mortgage by Michael Moynihan, 2/6/2009

• What America Needs is a 4% Fixed Mortgage by Michael Moynihan, 2/3/2009

• Keep People in Their Homes by Simon Rosenberg and Dr. Robert Shapiro, 9/23/2008 

• NDN to Congress: "Keep People in Their Homes" by Simon Rosenberg and Dr. Robert Shapiro, 9/17/2008